As JP mentioned in his review of the 2LP set of the same title, the
exhibition I Want the Beatles to Play at My Art Center!
also launched a DVD, as well as a voluminous book. This DVD release is
sub-titled DVD Video From the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter Archives
1968-2012, and it holds two documentaries,
as well as a number of performances and commissioned works from HOK. The
exhibition is curated, compiled and researched (the 2LP, the DVD and the
book titled Mot det totale museum) by Lars Mørch
Finborud.

The two documentaries opening the DVD - Epoke (1968, produced
by NRK - the Norwegian broadcasting company), a 15 minutes long TV
production, and A Forum Of
The Arts (1970, dir. Pål Bang-Hansen); a 45 minute (originally
shot and presented on 35mm) - are fine historical introductions to the
birth of HOK. The former is
somewhat stiff and formal television program (of that era), while the
latter has got more of an artistic view and approach when presenting
HOK. As a pair the two films
are a suitable match, presenting interviews with founders Sonja Henie
and Niels Onstad, plus some of the art (of any shape and colour, content
and context) the HOK is
meant to house.

The performances & commissioned works part of the DVD holds a small
pick from HOK's archives, and presents an Art Center aiming for
experimentation and border-crossing
for decades. Showing/presenting 'music as art', or 'art as music', or
'music meets art', or vice versa. In fact, from the very beginning this
was part of HOK's vision,
with Arne Nordheim's electronic/contemporary composition "Solitaire"
(based on the poem "Les bijoux" from Les fleurs du mal by Charles
Baudelaire) written especially
for the Art Centre's opening of in 1968 as a good example. Nordheim is
only present in a short glimpse in the 'documentary section', from the
opening night. Plus, of course,
on the 2LP. Among the performances we find a diverse collection of
samples from the archives, with oddities/rarities, such as "A silent
tour of the Norwegian Studio for
Electronic Music with Hal Clark" (1975) - which in fact is silent (as
well as being black and white footage), the wild, wonderful and
colourful (even though this is another
B/W clip...) Kjartan Slettemark's "Poodle performance at HOK" (1975) -
with the artist dressed... in a poodle outfit, and Mauricio Kagel's
(excerpt from) "EX-POSITION"
(1978) - with a 'megaphone choir' (Grex Vocalis), percussion, rhythm
generators, piano, and gymnastics (a group of high-school students from
Cologne). This is the modern
dance!

The oldest clip included is the acclaimed Norwegian
rock-turned-jazz-turned-rock-turned-jazz guitarist/composer Terje
Rypdal's (excerpt from) "Orfeus vender seg og
ser på Eurydike" (Orpheus turns and looks at Eurydice, by
Rypdal/Kaj Nissen 1972), which was written for a performance, and
performed by the Norwegian National
Opera Orchestra (another clip from a NRK production). Modern opera, for
sure, starring Norwegian baritone Knut Skram and Swedish
(lyric-dramatic) soprano Jadwiga Koba.
We get an excerpt from "Skapelser" (Creations, 1978) by electronic
artist Lasse Thoresen (with graphic visuals by Thoresen and Jannicke
Falk), whose works
"...concentrate on a
contemporary transformation of the folk-music traditions". It's a
somewhat meditative piece. Stian
Skagen & Monica Winther's installation work "The Inward Rising" (2008),
on the other hand, is a more brutal piece of work, with noisy sound, and
flashy visuals (nothing
for an epileptic like me...). Skagen (a.k.a. [concept.virus], b. 1980) -
one of Scandinavia's leading sound-artists, having toured as a part of
noise-experimental outfit
Ryfylke, with noise-rock band Årabrot, or as part of the duo
Nernes/Skagen - along with Kjetil Nernes of Årabrot. Winter (b.
1976) has labelled her signature
works "...site-specific
installations which are constructed out of an abundance of text, sound,
video, and light".
Following up Skagen & Winther's noise-track we also find KILLL (Martin
Horntveth of Jaga Jazzist, Erlend Mokkelbost of JR Ewing, Are Mokkelbost
of Single Unit and ARM,
and Espen Hangård of No Place To Hide) "Live at HOK" (2009), and
improv two-some MoHa! (gents Anders Hana on guitar and extreme noise
electronics, and Morten J.
Olsen on drums) and Idan & Anu (who are Idan Hayosh and Anu Vahtra).
Hayosh (b. 1979, in Tel-Aviv), lives and works in Amsterdam, while Anu
Vahtra (b. 1982, in Tallinn,
Estonia) is based in his home-country. MoHa! and Idan & Anu performs
"Fire & Ignorance" (2009), in pure drum'n'noise meets wild light-show.

The 'closing' performance on this DVD are Masselys, Christopher
Nielsen & Matt Willis-Jones' "Jimmy Polaris" (2011). Masselys are
ex-Salvatore members Kjell-Olav Jørgensen,
Bjarne Larsen and John Birger Wormdahl, plus Jonas Hestvik Dahl (of 120
Days, Beautiful People). Cartoonist/animator Christopher Nielsen has
contributed some of his familiar
characters (mainly from the Free Jimmy, and just the outlines of
the figures only) as repetitive dancers/movers, in a contour vs. colour
dance beat-ballet. Visual
effect maker Matt Willis-Jones has also contributed to this dance-show
tagged as "...a cacophony of
psychedelic picture experiments
to rhythmical music - mutated disco and repetitive patterns of drums,
bass, guitar, synth and samples". This show was released on CD
last year; Jimmy Polaris -
Live at Henie Onstad Art Centre (Prisma Records). I find this clip
to be one of the better, more interesting performances on this DVD,
though I guess being present
at the live performance was way cooler.

Even though most composers included here are Norwegians, there's a
couple of 'foreigners': One is art music pioneer, avant-gardist,
composer, music theorist John Cage
with his oral piece "Muoyce" (1983). There's also a short interview with
Cage (again, by NRK), where he talks about modern art and modern music,
communication and the
purpose of music, etc. Then there's Seattle, WA musician (guitar, piano,
etc.), producer and composer Stephen O'Malley, a.k.a. SOMA;
drone-death-doom-improv experimentalist,
known from his band Sunn O)))), with his work "La Petite Gèante"
(2009) - holding grand piano, cello and two contrabasses. A misty and
mystic, doomy and gloomy
piece of music, yet fascinating and spellbinding. All in all it's my
favourite pick off this DVD. Along with the aforementioned "Jimmy
Polaris".

HOK for sure is a forum of the arts. To quote former HOK director Ole
Henrik Moe's statement when HOK opened in '68: "And now
we take the first step into the future." This is maybe aural and
visual art from the past, for the future?